The Society for Community Research and Action grants an annual dissertation award to the best dissertation identified on a topic in the field of community psychology completed during the prior two years. The Dissertation Award was established in 1982.
2017 Jessica Shaw
Advisor: Rebecca Campbell
"Justifying injustice: How the Criminal Justice System Explains its Response to Sexual Assault"
2016 Kate Dorozenko
Advisor:
"The Identities and Social Roles of People with Intellectual Disabilities: Challenging Dominant Cultural Worldviews, Values and Mythologies"
2015 Ashley Anglin
Advisor:
"Collaborative Identification of Assets in South Rome, Georgia Using the Community Capitals Framework: Exploring Influential Factors and Discovering Community Strengths"
2014 Susan Eckerle Curwood
Advisor: Robb Travers
"The 'Warrant of Common Sense': Ideology and Poverty in Canada and the United States "
2013 Urmitapa Dutta
Advisor: Mark Aber
“The Long Way Home: A Critical Ethnography of Youth and Conflict in Northeast India”
2012 Sarah Lowe, University of Massachusetts at Boston
Advisor: Jean Rhodes
“Trajectories of Psychological Distress Among Low-income Female Survivors of Hurricane Katrina”
2011 Steven James Pierce, Michigan State University
Advisor:
“Using Geostatic Models to Study Neighborhood Effects: An Alternative to Using Hierarchical Linear Models”
2010 Jennifer Watling Neal, University of Illinois at Chicago
Advisor: Karina Olga Reyes
“Examining Relations in Relational Aggression: The Role of Peer Social Networks”
2009 Darcy Freedman, Vanderbilt University
Advisor: Paul Speer
“Politics of Food Access in Food Insecure Communities”
2008 Sarah Chilenski, Pennsylvania State University
Advisor: Mark Greenberg
“Community Risks and Resources in Rural America: What matters?”
2007 Branda Nowell, Michigan State University
Advisor: Pennie Foster-Fishman
“The Role of Social Capital in Interorganizational Alliances”
2006 Adam Long, Vanderbilt University
Advisor: William P. Smith, Douglas Perkins, Peggy Thoits
“Residential Community Identification and Psychological Well-Being”
2005 Marci R. Cully, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Advisor: Joseph Hughey
“Power and ‘Official’ Vehicles for Public Participation in a Local Hazardous Waste Setting: A Community Case Study”
2004 No award given
2003 Margaret Davis, DePaul University
Advisor: Leonard Jason
“Sex Differences in Alcoholics and Addicts Recovering in Oxford House: Exploring Characteristics,
Social Support, and Self-Efficacy.”
2002 Nicole Allen, Michigan State University
Advisor: Pennie Foster-Fishman
“Coordinating Councils as a Vehicle for Achieving a Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence: An Examination of Context-Specific Correlates of Effectiveness.”
2001 Camille Preston, University of Virginia
Advisor: Dick Reppucci
“Policing domestic violence: The Influence of Community Resources on Provider Attitudes About Pro-arrest Policies.”
2000 Bret Kloos, University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne
Advisor: Julian Rappaport
“Cultivating Identity and Meaning Making in the Context of Residential Treatment Settings for Persons with Histories of Psychological Disorders.”
1999 Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University
Advisor: Ed Seidman
“Welfare Dynamics, Support Services, Mothers’ Earnings, and Child Development: Implications for Contemporary Welfare Reform.”
1998 Michael J. Solomon, University College London
Advisor: Nancy Pistrang
“What do Parents of Children with Disabilities and Special Needs Find Helpful about Mutual Support Groups?”
1997 Rebecca Campbell, Michigan State University
Advisor: William Davidson
“The Community Response to Rape: An Ecological Conception of Victims’ Experiences”
1996 Danielle Papineau, Universite de Montreal, Canada
Advisor: Margaret Kiely
“Citizen Empowerment Through Economic Development in a Multiethnic Neighborhood”
1995 Gabriel P. Kuperminc, University of Virginia
Advisor: Joseph Allen
“Social Orientation, Social Competence and the Prevention of Adolescent Problem Behavior”
1994 Susan Yeich, Michigan State University
Advisor: Ralph Levine
“Empowerment and Structural Change: The Creation of a Homeless Persons Union”
Caroline Kroeker, Claremont Graduate School
Advisor: Alan Wicker
“Empowerment Programs for the Severely Disadvantaged: Lessons From a Process Evaluation of a Nicarguan Agricultural Cooperative”
1993 Krys Kaniasty, University of Louisville
Advisors: James Driscoll & Fran Norris
“Social Support as a Mediator of Stress Following a Natural Disaster: A Test of Social Support Deterioration Model Using Measures of Kin Support, Nonkin Support, and Social Embeddedness.”
Paul Speer, University of Missouri, Kansas City
Advisor: Joseph Hughey
“Empowerment in Pressure Group Community Organizations: Internal Processes
1992 Jerome Short, Arizona State University
Advisor: Irwin Sandler
“An Evaluation of a Preventative Intervention for Children of Problem Drinkers”
Terrie Sterling, Georgia State University
Advisor: James Emshoff
“Modeling Community Mobilization for Social Change: Preventing Youth Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse.”
1991 Douglas Perkins, New York University
Advisor: Marybeth Shinn
“The Social and Physical Environment of Residential Blocks, Crime, and Citizens’ Participation in Block Associations.”
Dennis Culhane, Boston College
Advisor: Ramsey Liem
“On Becoming Homeless: The Structural and Experiential Dynamics of Residential Instability.”
1990 William K. Hallman, University of South Carolina
Advisor: Abe Wandersman
“Coping with an Environmental Stressor: Perception of Risk, Attribution of Responsibility and Psychological Distress in a Community Living Near a Hazardous Waste Facility”
1989 John E. Prestby, University of South Carolina
Advisor: Abe Wandersman
“Leaders and Leadership in Grassroots Voluntary Organizations: An Examination of Personal Resources, Participation Benefits/costs, and Incentive/cost management”
1988 No award given
1987 Joseph P. Allen, Yale University
Advisor: Seymour B. Sarason
“Adolescent Behavior Problems and Differing Patterns of Social Adaptation: The Role of Social
Contingency Beliefs”
1986 Richard Gist, University of Missouri, Kansas City
Advisor: Joseph Hughey
“An Analysis and Social Learning Examination of Recent Trends in Adolescent Suicide Rates”
1985 Richard C. Birkel, University of Virginia
Advisor: Robert Emery
“Sources of Caregiver Strain on Long-term Home-care”
1984 Kenneth Bachrach, Arizona State University
Advisor: Alex Zautra
“Coping with a Community Stressor: A Proposed Hazardous Waste Disposal Facility”
1983 Donald Davis, Michigan State University
Advisor: William Davidson
“Innovation, Adaptation, and Organizational Change-Program Evaluation in Gerontology- G. Johnson”
1982 Charles H. Kieffer, University of Michigan
Advisor: Richard Price
“The Emergence of Empowerment: The Development of Participatory Competence Among Individuals in Citizen Organizations”